Weatherman in the making! I love weather, but other things pique my interest as well. Other loves include Jesus Christ, People, Traveling, and Mississippi State Athletics!
One last post as last week and this week are really the end of the internship. Things are a little more relaxed the week of Christmas.
Last week was quite busy with our last assembly and explorers. Both of those have been such wonderful times to work with the kids and the teachers at the school. The opportunities they have given us are unheard of in American public schools. Last Friday we were invited to run the school's Christingle service. I have never done a Christingle, so this was a brand new experience for me.
A Christingle service is an Anglican/Episcopalian advent service where they light a candle that is stuck into an orange that has four sticks with sweets on them and a red ribbon around the middle. We spent the day with the different classes helping them make their own Christingle candles. At the end of the school day, the whole of the schools gathered and we got to share what each part of the Christingle means, and how that relates to Christ and his birth/death at Christmas.
After the assembly, we wanted to thank the faculty and staff for allowing us to working so closely with them and with their kids, so we brought in tea, coffee, and cakes for them to have while they had their weekly meeting. It was great to be able to give back and see the teachers when they aren't running around keeping track of the children they are responsible for during the school day.
On the city wall
This week, things were still quite busy, but I had already made plans and purchased a train ticket up to York for Monday, to see the town, and do a little Christmas shopping. I loved York. It still has a lot of its original city walls still up, and open to the public, it was neat to walk around the centre of the town and to have the view from up there.
View of the Minster from the wall.
I also explored the outside of the York Minster (they charge £10ish to go in), I saw the view from Clifford's Tower, which used to be part of the York castle, which is no longer standing. From there you can clearly see all of York, even parts which are outside of the city walls. It has a commanding view which makes sense why they built a castle there. In fact, the first castle was built by William the Conqueror way back in the eleventh century AD. He built it to protect Norman England from Vikings. It's crazy to me to think how much history that I have learned about back in America actually took place in these different places.
Panoramic look north from Clifford's Tower
Clifford's Tower looking northeast at the Minster
The York Minster
York is known for its shopping, and so with Christmas arriving quickly, I took the opportunity to do a little Christmas shopping. The centre of town is almost entirely shopping and tourist sights. The most famous of places to shop is what they call "The Shambles". The Shambles used to be the meat market area, but now it just a small street that is tight, crammed and the buildings are nearly leaning into one another. This street has lots of little shops and is still very old in its architecture. There is plenty of Elizabethan architecture in York, and I love it. There are two rivers that run through York, the River Foss, and the River Ouse. Both are absolutely beautiful to walk over and along, so I naturally took pictures.
The Shambles at night.
The Shambles during the day.
Well, besides my touring adventures on Monday, this week has been very busy. Tuesday and Wednesday we finished giving leaflets to everyone on the estate, and we also had our last Bible study and Tots and Toys of the year. It is strange to think that the next time both of those meet, I won't be there. Thursday evening we had a youth event at Andrew and Grace's, we had done this once before during this autumn's half term break, and since there was a positive response to it, we thought we would it again before Christmas. It is great to interact with the youth that we know, and actually be able to talk with them, when we aren't working with their younger siblings or when their parents are around. We all act differently when our parents are around, and so this time gives them an opportunity to open up more.
The River Foss
The River Ouse
Guess who's from York!
Today, we had a kids Christmas party at the community centre since the kids got off of school Friday for Christmas. We had a great time with over 50 kids from the estate, they all filled with energy and anticipation for Christmas, and we did get to share a bit of what Christmas really is all about. To them, it really is just about getting presents, and big ones at that. We know Christmas to be about God gave us the biggest gift we could ever ask for. He gave us His Son, who came to save the world, and each one of us from all the bad things we have done. Jesus came to earth at Christmas as a baby, he came in the midst of oppression, anger, filth, and poverty. He came so we may have life, and have it to the full. He came at Christmas so that no matter our rank in life, we may know God, and have a relationship with him. He really is the best present we could ever get, and all we have to do is accept him as a gift from God, and let the gift of Jesus change us to be more like Christ each day that we live.
I have thoroughly enjoyed my 3 months and two weeks (up to now) here in England. This autumn has been full of learning about another culture, about my own culture, about Christianity and how it permeates each and every culture differently, and understanding how to meet the people of the culture with the Gospel, and sharing it in a way that shows their need, and displays God's glory. Many people here and in America have asked me what I am doing when I return to America. While I would absolutely love to say that I will be working WXYZ-TV in Anytown, USA, this is not the case. The more I pray and seek God about why I haven't found a job the more I believe God isn't calling me to that, despite how very much I wish it were the case.
The ruins of an old and powerful abbey during the reign of Henry VIII.
I love this picture.
I don't know what God has planned for me. There are lots of things I would love to do, places I'd be thrilled to live, and people I would overjoyed to work alongside, but patience is needed, as is trust and dependence on the One who knows all and has orchestrated everything under the sun and in the universe to be exactly where it is at each instance, and doing exactly what He has allowed it to do. So, I can say with Paul in Romans 8:26-30, that I may not even know what I'm doing, or to pray for, but He knows, and He cares. He is watching and bringing himself glory through every circumstance. Even if the mess of this world, in its wars, destruction and desecration of all God has created, His handiwork is still evident, and He is still there holding all things together. So praise Him when things are going great in your life, give thanks for the relative peace in your life. Seek His face for wisdom and answers when nothing makes sense, and your life is crumbling, praise Him in that moment for His steadfastness, His strength, compassion and grace.
I have now been here for 3 months. That leaves 22 days for me here in the UK. These last 22 days will be very busy, with Christmas activities with the school, a Christmas party for kids, a Carol Service at ECC, a trip to York, team Christmas dinner, and much more.
Looking back on this week, it seems quite long for some reason, we didn't have all of our activities this week, but we were still quite busy. Monday was the regular cleaning day of the week with its usual things to clean. Tuesday we began our mission of canvasing the entire estate with flyers about our Christmas events at the church. Tuesday was quite cold, which made things very interesting out and about the estate. Tuesday evening a woman from Wales moved into her house on the estate. She has moved specifically to work alongside the church and minister to the estate. Wednesday and Thursday I spent some time at her house painting as she is doing some interior redecorating before moving all of her things in.
Wednesday began the rounds of sickness for the team. Monday the three year old was sick, but that didn't affect the team too much as we weren't all in one place. By Wednesday, Andrew and Grace had both fallen ill with the same thing. This affected our tot's and toys play group, so we were down to 4 as opposed to our usual 6. We managed well in spite of this and then got to spend some time with Edith, our new Welsh friend and her foster daughter's partner, Dave at lunch. It is encouraging to see how God has brought so many different people to the estate. Edith made the comment of at the table, there were 6 different accents. Welsh, Northern English(Newcastle/Sunderland), Scottish, Northern Irish and a general British accent, and an American accent. This was just a tiny taste of what heaven will be, thousands of tongues, dialects and accents all worshiping and praising God for all eternity. I can't wait to hear that.
Thursday we had our Explorer's Club at the school, with a normal attendance, you can tell the children are getting antsy for Christmas and the time off school. Thursday evening felt like Christmas time back in America, as we had Chinese ("A Christmas Story" anyone? "Deck the hores wi' bows of Hory fa-ra-ra-ra-ra-ra-ra") and put up the Morton's Christmas tree. As I do not have the memory of decorating the tree as a 3 year old, I'm sure I was somewhat similar to their three year old and putting up the tree in whatever fashion made sense to her, and was physically possible. This meant branches piled on top of one another. As soon as it was up, she began the decorating, beginning with the most fragile and expensive of ornaments. It was fun to see her do that, and think how odd it is that we instinctively know which ones those are, and find it hard to resist the impulse to touch and hold those ornaments.
Friday we helped the school put on a Christmas Fayre. Yes, Fayre. That is how they spell it here. I think it's from the old or middle English, and hasn't changed. While it was one massive chaotic event, we got to see the kids and their parents, and hand out a little booklet telling the story of the First Christmas.
Happy Thanksgiving! And for some of you, Happy Black Friday. I can honestly say that I am thankful Black Friday isn't near as big of a deal here as it is in America. The only store here that has a Black Friday sale is ASDA, which is a part of the Wal-mart family.
This week has been full of our regular activities. We had our assemblies this week, where we were able to announce winners in a Christmas card contest we had. We asked the school if the children could make some Christmas cards themed around the Nativity scene for our Christmas flyer. We had three winners, and each one was thrilled to be named the winner, and even more ecstatic when they received a Christmas present from us.
Tot's and Toys play group was busy once again, with 13 children, and 10 adults. It is encouraging to see more and more consistency from people. This indicates that they are comfortable with the playgroup and with us.
Wednesday evening, we celebrated Thanksgiving. For the most part, our Thanksgiving dinner is similar to an English Christmas dinner. There were some exceptions, Green Bean Casserole, Lime Pear Delight (family recipe), and Sour Cream Apple Pie (another family recipe). All went over fairly well, and no one got sick from my cooking! It was a wonderful chance to spend time with them all, and share a bit of American culture. Afterwards, they asked for a quiz, so I created a quiz about America. Questions included what is the first state to join the union, the last state to join the union. What is the name of the US national anthem, and what sports did Michael Jordan play professionally. It was a hilarious time as there are things that they didn't know, and so their answers caused some laughter throughout the evening.
Thursday's explorer's club went well, we did a Thanksgiving craft with them, which I of course was thrilled about :) . Friday we went out with the school, and helped clean up some gardens and a little litter picking.
Friday night with the teens in Harby was good, I was the one in charge of the older ones, and we talked about what we are thankful for, and why we are thankful, and to whom are we thankful. The time was good to just talk about what I am thankful for, and why I am thankful for them. We organized what we are thankful for into: 5 people, 4 things, 3 things in nature, 2 places/activities, and 1 thing that God has done in our lives this past year.
I know this week's post is somewhat short, but things are about to get really busy with December arriving tomorrow. We have lots of this going on from now to Christmas, including attempting to visit every home on the estate to tell them about our Christmas events.
Time is really beginning to fly by! It is hard to believe that I am over 2/3 of the way through my internship here. In 35 days, I will (by God's grace and will), be on a plane somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean between Madrid, Spain and Chicago, Ill., USA.
I am late(ish) once again on writing this blog. This was another busy weekend.
This week I spent much of it at Andrew and Grace's. Daniel and Grace took three days off at the beginning of the week, and visited family in York and Ipswich. While at Andrew and Grace's, I went into Grantham and visited a relatively new Christian bookstore, looking for some Bible study materials. While I was happy to talk with the lady who owns the shop, I couldn't find anything that really jumped out at me as what I was looking for. Additionally, when I talked with her on the way out, I discovered she had a pet rat with her. Which she kept on her person. The rodent made several appearances from behind her ear, and even through her scarf and jacket. While I have never dealt with the bubonic plague, I'd prefer that to be one thing I do not experience on this earth.
Tuesday afternoon was spent at a nice old house on the north east side of Grantham called Belton House. The house is owned by the National Trust, sort of like the Historic Societies in America. The house has a large garden, orangery, boathouse, lake, maze of hedges, stable, and servant housing in addition to the house itself. While unable to get into the house, we did explore the landscape surrounding the house.
Lake and boathouse.
Looking through the back garden.
Belton House
Tuesday night was a long but glorious night as I was able to video chat with the MSU Baptist Student Union at their last meeting of the semester. It was wonderful to see some faces I haven't seen in a couple months, and although once the meeting began it was dark. I knew people were there, and were listening due to the noise, and some responses. Additionally, I received a few tweets, and some iMessages from people during that time. It is so very encouraging to be able to hear from people who you have been around for 4 years still care about you, and are genuinely interested in what you are doing.
MC came around Wednesday afternoon to discuss life and how things are going as a 5 day old Christian. It was great to just chat about the Christian life, learn some of the foundations to what we believe, and discuss what prayer is, and how on earth you go about praying by yourself.
Thursday morning I ventured back into Grantham (rat-free this time), and visited St. Wulfram's Cathedral. It is quite a large cathedral considering the town. The spire was completed in the 13th century, and standing at 282 feet, and some odd inches, it was purportedly the tallest structure in England upon completion.
St. Wulfram's Cathedral. Church of England.
Friday was another busy day of cleaning, mentoring, Bible study with teens in Harby, and then video chat with two fantastic brothers, Aaron and Isaac. I have missed them both terribly since we returned to the U.S. after my first visit to Grantham back in May. It was good to see them and share with them personally what has been going on as they know some of the people I work with personally.
Saturday I visited Melton Mowbray and was able to walk around during the Saturday market. Thankfully the market was on because Melton isn't exactly a throbbing metropolis. The square where the market was held is pleasant, but small. I also visited St. Mary's Church which was very nice and interesting as the steeple had a clock on it, but the staircase to the clock was on the edge of the steeple, so you could tell where the staircase was quite clearly.
Sunday was a very busy day, as I went to three services. We had a nice group at the Earlesfield Community Church again this week. However afterwards, Lois was being baptised (when in England, spell like the English) in Nottingham, so we raced back there to join and celebrate with her.
Lois, and one of the pastors, Pete!
All in all, a good week, with another busy week ahead. Things are going to be quite busy for the next 3-4 weeks, I will try to post weekly, but I'm making no promises for this stretch!
This week has been a little longer thanks to a very busy and exciting weekend. My apologies for being later than normal with this update.
Even the front half of the week was busy, from belting Christmas carols through the toilet block while cleaning (and serenading others unintentionally) to leading the Bible study, Monday and Tuesday were jam packed. On Tuesdays we try and visit people on the estate, we did not make that goal as we had a couple of projects we needed to do at Andrew's and at the community centre. An older Welsh man joins us every Tuesday, so he and I worked at the community centre sorting good chairs and tables from the rubbish ones. He is a pleasure to be around and talk with.
Thursday through the weekend were full of activity as well. From another adventure in finding a craft to do with the kids, to spiritual talks which has since lead to spiritual growth and commitment (yay!). God is working here, and the joy I have in knowing He has allowed me to be in this work is incredible. In the midst of that we watched the latest Thor in the cinema. Thor was quite good, and was filmed in England (everyone likes London). Also, popcorn at the cinema here is slightly cheaper (although there is a significant need for melted butter over here).
London Skyline from the London Eye. Note St. Paul's just right of center
Saturday, as a team we took the train down to London! With vouchers from Tesco (a grocery store over here), we got onto the London Eye at a discounted price. We explored more of London, including 10 Downing Street (the British version of The White House, where the PM lives), Trafalgar Square, The Royal Mall up to Buckingham Palace, Hyde Park AND Harrod's.
Charis was being silly, hence my looking down.
The London Eye.
Elizabeth Tower in foreground.
Westminster Abbey in background.
Trafalgar Square and Nelson's Column.
The National Gallery.
Harrod's. Poshest place in the world.
I had always thought of Harrod's as just the British version of Macy's Department Store in New York City. It's not. From the outside I thought it was very festive for Christmas. Then I got inside. The place is posh. By posh, I mean Victoria Beckham posh (She was Posh Spice of the Spice Girls). I do not think you can get any more posh than someone who's nickname is Posh. The place was ridiculous. While strolling along, we found a watch that was worth £11500. Yes, you read that right. Eleven thousand five hundred pounds. Currently, that is $18,532.14. FOR A WATCH. I paid less than half of that for my current car in America. We also saw one for £88000. But really, at that point I was still in sticker shock from the first watch, and anything beyond that was incomprehensible. Part of our reason for visiting Harrod's was to find the toilets, or as the uber-posh call it, the washroom. We needed this because we had a 3 year old and a 9 month old who desperately needed a nappy change. We had a look around near where the washroom is located (the basement), so we looked around the wine cellar and the cigar room. Cigars are at least £41 PER CIGAR. A pipe is would fleece the lining of my jeans at £300. The price of a simple bottle of Coke would quench your thirst without even purchasing the drink. It costs over 4 quid(pound, to be proper), so the next time you go to a restaurant and you have sticker shock at a $3.00 drink, just remember a single bottle of Coke would be more like $7.00 in Harrod's.
Big Ben is such a pleasure to listen to.
Parliament is just to the right of Elizabeth Tower here.
Buckingham Palace.
After that eventful trip to London, which was truly quite enjoyable, I went online to book my train ticket back to London for when I leave in December. I booked the latest train that night from Grantham. Big Mistake. This train would be leaving around 10:30 at night. Arriving at midnight. Beautiful, that would give me 3 hours to get to Heathrow from King's Cross. No biggie right? Wrong. As it will be a Sunday night, and apparently London officials do not think that anyone would care to travel at midnight from the BIGGEST TRAIN STATION IN THE UK to the BIGGEST AIRPORT IN THE UK, for an international flight that leaves at dawn (which is fairly common). The Underground quits running at 11:30. Thankfully we caught this last night. Otherwise, I would have been stuck in Central London with all my luggage needing to get to Heathrow, and really the only option that I could rely on then would be a taxi. Which could be the most expensive mode of transportation invented by mankind.
Well, we avoided that big obstacle by moving my train, where the change of my reservation only cost 5/6 of the price of the ticket itself. Sigh. Live and learn. Do not ever expect the biggest underground system of trains to run at midnight on a Sunday night.
Hyde Park and The Serpentine. These swans are property of Queen Elizabeth II herself. As are all the swans in England.
One more week in the books. Another week of spending time with crazy, wonderful English, Scottish, Welsh, Irish, and Northern Irish people. They are truly incredible people.
This week was a calmer week in terms of activities. With Andrew and Grace out of town early in the week, Daniel and I spent the week building bunk beds, putting up new mattresses, and taking apart the old ones. After two days using a screwdriver, I felt like I was developing rheumatoid arthritis in my right hand. There are still some red spots on my hand from the screwdriver, nearly a week later.
This week, I began reading through the Psalms. I had been reading a Proverb a day since July, and so I felt like I needed to change things up a bit. So I started reading the Psalms. We as a team found out that one of our church members reads a Psalm every night. I thought it might be the perfect opportunity to further engage and encourage them in Christ. Since we would both be reading the Psalms, we could share ones that stuck out to us in the week. Later I found out they do not read the Psalms in any order, however, I still feel that I can encourage them through my reading of it also. This will also encourage me and push me to not simply read the text, but to study it, mull it over in my mind. I've heard people use the illustration of a cow chewing its cud as what we should do as Christians with the Word of God. We should read it and take it in, then a little while later, bring it back up into our minds, and think on it some more.
Throughout this week, I have been preparing for today. Today was marked on our calendars here as the day that I would preach at the church on the estate. For those of you who don't know, I never preached before in my entire life. While my training in university has made me comfortable with talking in front of people. This was a whole new animal to try and wrangle. My experience with public speaking has been with sub-10 minute speeches. The majority were under 3 minutes, and about the weather. This one was expected to be 15+ minutes. Thankfully, God has placed an illustration on my heart for children early in my time here. This illustration was to describe what it means to be a Christian. I was able to in a way, use the illustration through the text I was given. For those who are curious, the text was Luke 18:9-14. This passages talks about the Pharisee and the tax collector. I focused on how they approached God, and how we should approach God. Well, today was the day. I preached. With the church being made up of mostly non-Christians, specifically, non-Christians with loads of children, there were plenty of distractions. Yet, I was surprised and blessed by how closely some paid attention to the sermon. I know that my voice isn't the most exciting of voices to listen to, and the fact that they listened and paid attention for 15+ minutes (I have no idea how long I preached) is solely something to give the praise and glory to God for. I pray that as they paid attention, that God spoke to them, that they would see for themselves that they can do all they want to look like a Christian to the world (like the Pharisee), but that will not make a lick of difference when they come before the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
This weekend I also had the opportunity to speak about Christ and Christianity to a Swedish girl who is working for a local family. She brought the children to a bonfire night we had in Harby. The children come regularly to our Bible study on Friday nights for the youth of Harby. Although she isn't a Christian, or even interested in Christianity, she and I were able to discuss religion, our thoughts on it, and also through our discussion we talked about holidays, in Sweden, England and America. I was able to tell a little bit about why we celebrate Christmas, and Easter. I pray something sticks with her, and that she would start to ask questions, to herself, as well as to the family she works for, who are also Christian.
I know there are not any pictures in this week's update. However, I plan on having loads of pictures tomorrow, as this coming Saturday, we are going to London as a team! There is also plan to go on the London Eye. If that is the case, there will be LOADS of pictures.
This week has been a much calmer week here, the children are back at school, and so our regular routine of working in the schools, visiting and having Bible study is back. Little Charis started nursery today, and is loving it. So is Grace, as that gives her three hours of relative quiet in the house every weekday.
One last update on last week, at church Sunday we had a family service, where the kids stay in during the whole service. We advertised it at the holiday club, we had 63 people at church on Sunday! Praise God! Many were kids (naturally), but we got the parents also. We had parents of kids we have been praying for and watching for a while now. What a blessing to see God bring people to hear His Gospel.
Picture doesn't do it full justice.
Tuesday, we had a meeting with someone in Newark, so after the meeting, we explored Newark. For those who came with me in May, the team from PRCC went to Newark one day, and their leader bought a bunch of stuff at an antique shop. We went into that antique shop just to look around. I'm not sure I could have found enough small things to fill a extra suitcase, but then I don't have the eye for that kind of thing.
Miniature roulette table.
I wonder if James Bond practiced his gambling skills with one of these...
We walked around the remnants of Newark Castle. Built in the 12th century, it became a royal castle under Henry VIII, but during the English Civil War, the castle sided with the Royalists and King Charles. They lost in the Battle of Newark and Parliament promptly ordered the castle be demolished. The only thing left is the castle wall facing the river, because that was the hardest part to get to. Many of the good stones used to build the castle were looted by the townspeople for their own homes.
River view of Newark Castle.
From inside the castle.
For lunch, we ate a "chippy," this chippy came well recommended by a mailman on the street. He was right though, it was quite delicious. I had a double cheeseburger and chips. Sidenote: all mail in the UK is sent via RoyalMail, so the mailman is in the service of the Queen. This means that when you put your letter in the post, it immediately belongs to the Queen until it reaches your intended recipient.
Delicious. Bring it, Mickey D's.
"I'm lovin' it."
Newark has the closest Starbucks to Grantham, so naturally we stopped there also, and the closest Marks and Spencers. We picked up more Percy Pigs there.
The Salted Caramel Mocha. Pretty good!
Thursday was Halloween, and while some people here do go all out for the holiday, we really didn't do anything. It was nice, I am also with the Howson's, and their house is a good distance from the road, or anyone else, so it makes for a quiet Halloween.
Friday night was Harby Bonfire Night. They had a huge bonfire, and some fireworks. This is their celebration of Guy Fawkes Day. If you have ever seen "V For Vendetta," you know who Guy Fawkes is. He had a plot to blow up Parliament because he didn't like what they were doing. His plot was exposed and he was executed, but the people in England still celebrate him. "Remember, remember the fifth of November." Mostly, it is an excuse to burn stuff. Bonfire night is the only time where you can legally burn anything in a bonfire or any outdoor fire.
The fireworks!
This thing was pretty big.
The ticket.
Today I had the pleasure of going to my first football match. Football here means soccer to everyone in America. I went to the Nottingham Forest v. Blackpool match. Lois is a big supporter of Nottingham Forest. We had solid seats, and it was a very good match, and fairly clean through much of the game. It was a draw, 0-0, at the 90th minute. The referee added 4 minutes to the game because of stoppages. Blackpool then scored in those four minutes. Blackpool won 1-0. While we were all disappointed that Forest didn't win, it was a hard fought match, and the Forest goalie was named Man of the Match. The topic of football reminds me of two things on my bucket list for being in England. One, was to go to a football match, check. The second is to find a premier league to support. Forest is in the championship league, so I can cheer for them, but it doesn't fill my bucket list. The reason why I say premier league is because in America, no one really even knows of the other leagues beneath the premier league.
I missed writing a post last weekend due to being in Scotland for half of it. I was also preparing for this week!
Last week, we had lots going on, with two assemblies, a toddlers group and our after school club. In addition to all of that, Andrew and I went up to Scotland to pick up and move our newest team member, Belinda! She is from Scotland, and has a lovely Scottish accents. Since we were up there, we stayed in Edinburgh at the Bible college where Daniel, Grace, Andrew, Grace, and Belinda have all attended. It was nice to see the college and explore a little bit of Edinburgh.
On our way up to Scotland, we drove through Newcastle, where there is a structure called "The Angel of the North," really there isn't much to it, just metal, shaped kinda like a woman with wings. Nothing spectacular at all.
Modern. Art.
We made our way from Newcastle through the countryside of Northumbria into Scotland. This part of the country is where they filmed the movie, "Braveheart." It was quite beautiful countryside, and until we got into Scotland, it was fairly clear and you could see much of the country (side note: Yorkshire is beautiful country, that is where Downton Abbey is supposedly set.). As we crossed into Scotland, I snapped a couple of photos.
Looking into Scotland
The return trip I got a shot of the stone marker between the two.
The amount of fog was crazy on the war back, this was only about 30 yards away.
Those flags are the English and Scottish flags.
The driving parts of the trip were exciting because I got to see more of Scotland. As we drove up to Aberdeen, north of Edinburgh to get Belinda, I was able to see Perth, Dundee, and the North Sea. It is a windswept, and in parts, bare country. But it is so pretty, and where there were trees, they were mostly evergreen, except for the random patch that had changed colors, so you knew those were deciduous trees even from a distance.
Since we were in Edinburgh, Andrew was able to meet up with a man he had worked with in church while studying at the Bible college. I have a great respect for this man's wisdom and even though he didn't know me, he was able to help me look introspectively at myself, my faith, as well as American Christianity. We also were able to spend time with a vice principal of the Bible college and his wife. They also were an encouragement to me and asked probing questions which I sincerely appreciate.
While in Edinburgh, I got to see the Edinburgh Castle, John Knox's statue, tomb, and house. In case you were wondering, he founded the Church of Scotland, which is a presbyterian version of the church of England. Knox's statue and tomb were in St. Giles Cathedral, a Church of Scotland structure that looks similar to many other European cathedrals, but using Scottish stone, and some parts have a blue ceiling (the color of the Scottish flag).
I also saw the Scottish Parliament, Scott's Memorial (Sir Walter Scott) and went down the main shopping strip of Edinburgh, Princess Street.
Edinburgh Castle.
Scotland is a beautiful country, and we often think of it as the home of presbyterianism (which, formally, yes it is). There is a darker side to Edinburgh, and to much of Scotland. Recall high school English class when you read Shakespeare (or SparkNotes as may be the case for some), if you read the tragedy, MacBeth, you would recognize that it is set in Scotland. Shakespeare wrote shortly after Martin Luther, but before John Knox was even born. He describes Scotland in a dark manner, including three sisters who are witches(eye of a newt, double trouble, boiling brew etc.). The Scottish were known as mysterious folk, where witchcraft was accepted and not uncommon. Sadly, the same is true today. Europe's largest celebration of wicca and paganism, Beltane, is held in April in Edinburgh. As many as 30 different locations in old Edinburgh currently still are being used for sorcery of some type.
On a lighter note, Scotland also has wonderful food, I bought haggis in the grocery store while there, and had some Wednesday. I finished my food, it wasn't terrible although I haven't determined if I would want it on a regular basis just yet. Also, Scotland has its own soda, Irn Bru. Irn Bru is/was more popular in Scotland than Coca-Cola, only one other soda has been able to manage within a country, and that is Inca Cola in Peru. Irn Bru is orange colored, but to me, it tastes like bubblegum.
That's the stuff.
All in all, Scotland was a great trip, and I'm so glad that we now have Belinda down with the team on the estate. She is here permanently, and is now living on the estate.
This week has been very, very busy as the children are out for half term, and so we ran a holiday club, similar to what I helped with when I came in May with the team from Mississippi State's BSU. We started the week with about 36 children, but by Friday, we had grown to 51 children at the community centre for our club. It was a blessing to see so many children coming. I was very impressed with how well behaved they actually were while listening to the stories, learning the memory verse, and eating lunch. We fed them a proper meal this time as we knew many would not have a proper meal all week long otherwise. The school here generously bought the supplies we needed for the lunch, the relationship between Earlesfield Community Church and the nearby school is very positive, which is a pleasant change from the relationship between most public schools and churches in America.
We also tried a Bible study with some older kids (middle school aged) on Thursday evening. I was pleased by how it went, as we were unsure how they would respond to the planned activities and Bible study.
I have now been here 6 weeks, I still have about 9 weeks left to go. As I approach the halfway point of my time here, I've found myself now accustomed to being "the American" in a British world. I think come the New Year when I return to America, it will definitely be a reverse culture shock. I am really enjoying my time here, and yet at the same time I look forward to when I return home. God has provided, and I know in my heart that He will continue to provide for me, even in the uncertainty I face when I return to America. The hard thing is getting my mind to understand that fact.
I hope this update finds everyone well, and satisfied in Christ. Peace and blessings to you from Christ.
This past week marked one month of living and working in the UK. It truly is hard to believe it has been a month already! I looked up how much longer I have, and looking at those numbers is quite sad. While I am not even a third of the way done with my time here, it's sad to know that the time is coming, and if the rest of the time goes by as fast as the first month, I will be back in the USA before you can say, "Top of the morning!"
England appears to be mourning the fact that I have a limited time also. The passing of time also appears to have brought with it more typical English weather. After nearly a month of warm temperatures, mostly sunny skies and all around pleasant weather, this week a cold front moved through, the temperature has dropped and it has been rainy and cloudy for almost 48 hours now. I think England decided I couldn't spend this much time here without getting a taste of good ole English weather.
So that was "The Cold," but additionally, this week I came down with a nasty cold, that set up shop in my chest and head. Monday and Tuesday nights were rough sleeping because I couldn't breathe. Andrew and Grace gave Olbus Oil, and boy, that stuff works! Your eyes start watering from sniffing just one or two drops of that stuff! It is potent.
The work is continuing to go along, fairly steady. We are still meeting and having good discussions at our Tuesday night Bible study, there are 3 moms that come steadily to Tots and Toys, but there has been at least one other mom the past three weeks. We had another Explorer's Club this week. I was in charge of the craft. It went fairly well. We talked about Noah and the Ark, so for the craft we took paper plates, cut them in half, then cut out the middle. The outside edge was the rainbow, which we decorated, and we even have clouds made of wool balls (cotton balls in America). We took the middle part we cut out, flipped it upside down, and made the Ark out of that. Finally, we punched holes in the rainbow and the Ark, and tied them together with string! All in all, I was proud of the craft, especially since I came up with the idea. Here is an example (my example), excuse the coloring, being color blind, coloring in rainbows aren't my specialty.
I also had the privilege of leading the older youth at Connected (the weekly Bible study for Harby youth) last night (Friday). Despite it being myself, and 8 girls, things went pretty well. Everyone got to hear my "American" accent last night when I said the word "ham," apparently it sounded a whole lot different from how they say it.
Next week's blog will definitely be delayed, if not cancelled, as from Thursday through Saturday of next week I will be traveling with Andrew to and from Scotland. Someone else is joining the team (permanently) from Scotland, and we are helping them move! I'm excited to see Edinburgh, try Haggis, and see the Highlands. I feel like I will be following the trek that the Granthams made in the final episode of Series 3 in Downton Abbey.
Speaking of Downton, here in the UK, the season started the Sunday after I arrived. Grace M., kindly recorded them, and so I saw the first two episodes of series 4 Thursday. I'll do my best not to spoil it, but in the first episode, a long time member of the house leaves, and a trouble maker returns. Hope that whet the appetite of everyone who watches Downton.
One final thought. Sunday at church, we always have tea and cakes after the service. This past Sunday I was on tea and cakes duty. So I helped boil the water in the giant pot (as big if not bigger than the ones at the BSU). Unfortunately, I didn't know there was a switch on the bottom side of the pot, to prevent the boiler from burning itself out when there isn't any water in it. So, when we went back after service to get the "boiling" water, it was cold. The water was just as cold as when it came out of the tap, if not colder. Clearly, I need to work on my boiling water skills. Along those lines, I would love to get a house water boiler when I am back in the States. They are quite handy, they look like a kettle, but you plug it into the wall, and it boils water in a just 3-4 minutes. When I saw boiling, I mean boiling. I guess this means I'm starting my Christmas list now, haha. I'll save the rest of my list for Santa. I wonder if there is a different address for Santa over here?
So, this week, at request from my dear, dear ginger friend, Caitlin (who doesn't have Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. "THE HORROR!"), I shall be posting pictures of my travels hither and yon (nice antiquated phrase, huh?). This week, I have had the pleasure of exploring two cities. Now, neither of these cities is London, sorry y'all. London will come later this autumn.
Monday: I hit up Nottingham. Now many of us know Nottingham from this...
Am I right? Classic Disney.
Back to my and exploring. I discovered Nottingham Castle, and there is a statue of Robin Hood there (how convenient), so I took my wee bit of photography skills and put them to use.
This is the normal touristy shot of ole Robin. He is well prepared for wherever the Sheriff might appear.
On the right we see where Robin expects the Sheriff to be coming from. The opening there in the wall is underneath the main gate into the castle.
Below, it appears that Robin thinks YOU are the Sheriff of Nottingham. Watch out!
Okay, enough cheesy commentary and tourist photos of a statue.
Nottingham Castle despite the name, really isn't a castle. I know, disappointing. It used to be a castle, then it was destroyed, a Duke was given the castle, he removed the rubble, and built a nice... mansion. Several years later the Duke did not support a bill that the townspeople liked, so they burned his mansion. Can you imagine if people in America did that to the White House now!? (wait, isn't that the premise of White House Down?) Anyway, so the inside is just a museum, with a very modern interior. :(
This is a panorama from an outlook of the castle. I still haven't entirely got the whole iPhone panorama thing down yet. Things are a little smooshed.
This is the main entrance into the castle itself. It reminds me of French palaces, like Versailles and the Louvre, except on a MUCH smaller scale.
Side note: the garden was very quiet and pleasant.
Nottingham had several churches throughout the city centre. The largest and by far the most photogenic is St. Mary's Church. It is Church of England (as are almost all in England). Here is a lovely picture I took as I was walking alongside of it. I couldn't get inside the church because I was there on a Monday, and Monday is the only day it is closed.
I really, really like this picture.
I also saw the canal, the Victoria Clock Tower (sadly, not all that impressive), and a couple other churches in Nottingham.
Canal
St. Barnabas' Church, Roman Catholic.
Tuesday through Friday were working on the estate. This week I've basically settled into the routine fully. Which is good, but it also means I must be on my guard to laziness, oversleeping, Satan's attacks and inattentive to what God is doing and showing me. We had a company of people at Bible study on Tuesday, and loads of moms at the Tots and Toys.
Working on my British pop teen angst look.
British thug right here.
Get on my level, One Direction.
Saturday, Grace M. had a conference in Derby (pronounced "Darby") and offered to drop me off near the city centre (and shopping mall) for the day. So I joined her for another touring adventure. This time I had the fortitude to look up what there is to see in Derby. I found their museum was free(!!) as well as the cathedral. First stop was the museum. It was quite small and so before walking in I was a little disappointed, and unsure as to what I would see. It turned out to be very nice. They house a fairly large collection of Joseph Wright artwork. He was a renown 18th century portrait artist who hailed from Derbyshire (that's, 'Darby-sure' for you Americans) which is the county in which Derby is. The museum gave lots of history information about Derby, specifically its military history. Derby was the southernmost point "Bonnie Prince Charlie" made it in his quest to unseat the Hanoverian dynasty from the English throne, and return his father (James, a Stuart) to it.
Handsome man right there.
"Bonnie" means good looking in Scottish tradition.
Derby has a colored military history, loyally serving the crown from Canada to South Africa, to India, to Hong Kong, the Crimean War, and of course both world wars. It is very interesting to see these wars from the British perspective.
Small historical fact:
Battle of Yorktown, VA 1781. The British surrender to the Americans and the French.
Odd.
Derby was also known for its porcelain, and their collection is quite nice. Some of it quite beautiful. The porcelain was all behind glass, and so I couldn't get a good photo.
After the museum, I went over to Cathedral. I was happy that this one was open, and the caretaker was extra friendly, I think she was glad to see a under 40 person interested in the cathedral. It was very nice cathedral, very formal, but that is to be expected from the Church of England. I wanted to climb up the tower, so I asked the woman about it, and she explained that normally they do them, but today they weren't because they had the Derby Mountain Rescue Team repelling down from the top as a publicity thing for the rescue team. I'm not sure if its sacrilegious to repel off a cathedral, but it was odd to me. It was also odd because there are no mountains in all of Derbyshire. In fact the highest point is 2,088 feet above sea level, this point is a flat mound, its not even a peak. The lowest point is 100 feet above sea level. So I guess the cathedral is about the sharpest incline they have to practice on.
The tower on Derby's Cathedral.
I spent a good amount of my time in the Westfield Shopping Centre. This place was posh, and huge. The main part of the mall is two floors, with a third floor for a couple restaurants, and a fourth level for the cinema. Some of the stores within the mall had 3 levels themselves. They had basically every posh shop that is found in Britain, and had three different outdoors stores. Naturally, I went into the outdoors stores, as well as looked for the food court. They had a very nice food court, plus about 10 different cafes and coffee shops scattered throughout the mall. There was a market, a grocery store, and about four shops like the dollar tree. They had everything, even 5 barber shops (called hairdressers here, very posh).
Keeping it classy here in Britain.
All in all, it has been a good week of weather once again. This is a rare treat for them, normally it is about 10 degrees (Fahrenheit) cooler, and rainy. It has only rained once this week, with highs in the mid-upper 60s.
I know this week's post isn't really that much on the ministry necessarily, but I hope it gives you a little glimpse of some of the culture in Britain!
